KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel will fly early to Australia to join the India A squad to get some match practice ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting in Perth on November 22.
Rahul played the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru, without much success. Jurel’s only involvement in the series was as a substitute wicketkeeper when Rishabh Pant hurt his knee. The BCCI senior selection committee has decided to send the two by Tuesday morning, ahead of the second four-day game against Australia A starting in Melbourne on Thursday. The Indian team is scheduled to fly to Australia in two batches.
The Indian Express understands that the team management and the selection panel took the call as Rahul and Jurel haven’t had much game time of late. The scheduled practice match against India A before the first Test has been cancelled in favour of centre-wicket match simulation.
Captain Rohit Sharma believes it will result in better preparation than facing any opposition from the host country.
“We are travelling with a squad of 19 players and only three days were allotted to us. I don’t know how much workload we can get in those three days in terms of getting everyone prepared. The management feels that we’d rather have a match simulation where batters can spend more time in the middle and the bowlers can bowl a lot of balls. That is something that we as a team feel more comfortable doing rather than playing a practice game because game time is not a problem,” Sharma said after the 0-3 home whitewash against New Zealand on Sunday.
According to Sharma, his team members have been playing a lot of cricket of late and it is just spending time in the middle that matters.
“If a batter gets out, he has to sit in the dugout for the whole day, and doesn’t get too much batting done. However, in a match simulation, the batters can go out and play 50-70 balls and then if we feel he’s had enough, we can retire him out and get someone else in. That is the plan,” the skipper informed.
The Indian team will be training at the WACA, the old Test venue in Perth, while the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be played at the Optus Stadium.
